Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[sandymandr]

Which day would be best for WWoHP? Tuesday - Thursday 10/11-13/11? All week days, so kind of hoping that they will all be relatively good??

 

[mesaboy2]

Which day would be best for WWoHP? Tuesday - Thursday 10/11-13/11? All week days, so kind of hoping that they will all be relatively good??

Any of those days should be good.

To all: here now, FJ was just posting 25 minutes and DC 15 with about an hour until close. Ollivander's pretty short too, looked like 25-30 minutes max to me.

 

[wendypleakley]

We'll be at WDW the week of Sept. 11 and plan on spending one day at IOA. The days we have to choose from are Monday the 12th and Thursday the 15th.
Our main priority will be WWOHP, which we will head to first thing when we get there.
Would Monday or Thursday be best?

Thanks!

 

[cruisin'Mike]

We he the chance to spend three nights at Universal next summer. We'd be there June 30-July 3. I know it's not the ideal time to visit, but I looked back in this thread and it didn't seem as bad this year as I thought it would have been. We'd definitely stay onsite (love RPR!). Do you think it would be doable crowd-wise, or am I crazy for considering it? Also, I know when WWoHP opened, the Front of the line access for onsite guests did not extend to FJ. Is that still the case? Are the coasters included?

 

[mesaboy2]

We'll be at WDW the week of Sept. 11 and plan on spending one day at IOA. The days we have to choose from are Monday the 12th and Thursday the 15th.
Our main priority will be WWOHP, which we will head to first thing when we get there.
Would Monday or Thursday be best?

Thanks!

Probably not a big difference--both should be nice, but I would choose Thursday.

 

[mesaboy2]

We he the chance to spend three nights at Universal next summer. We'd be there June 30-July 3. I know it's not the ideal time to visit, but I looked back in this thread and it didn't seem as bad this year as I thought it would have been. We'd definitely stay onsite (love RPR!). Do you think it would be doable crowd-wise, or am I crazy for considering it? Also, I know when WWoHP opened, the Front of the line access for onsite guests did not extend to FJ. Is that still the case? Are the coasters included?

With onsite Express privileges, you'll be fine those dates. Express still does not work on Forbidden Journey or Peranadon Flyers at IoA, nor at Rip Ride Rockit at the Studios. Use single-rider at FJ if you want to save time and don't care about seeing the queue.

 

[cruisin'Mike]

With onsite Express privileges, you'll be fine those dates. Express still does not work on Forbidden Journey or Peranadon Flyers at IoA, nor at Rip Ride Rockit at the Studios. Use single-rider at FJ if you want to save time and don't care about seeing the queue.

Thanks. That's pretty much what I thought, although I didn't realize there was no Express Pass for Rip Ride Rockit. And that's definitely on our list for this trip.

 

[OrlandoMagic]

We are going Friday Sept 23rd and hoping to hit WWoHP later in the day, about 5-5:30pm.

Will the fact that HHN is on that night draw a lot of the crowds out of IoA? How is WWoHP crowd wise in the evenings anyway?

Thanks!

 

[macraven]

We are going Friday Sept 23rd and hoping to hit WWoHP later in the day, about 5-5:30pm.

Will the fact that HHN is on that night draw a lot of the crowds out of IoA? How is WWoHP crowd wise in the evenings anyway?

Thanks!

if you are coming from the studios, they will be closed at 5:00 that day.

since it will be opening night for hhn, i would think that ioa would not be very crowded in the late afternoon.

 

[bouncycat]

We finally picked a day, Monday Sept 19th, we are hoping for lower crowds...since my family is weird like that. It doesn't bother me tho. We'll probably hit HP Area first. We chose a weekday on purpose. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!! Now to get the sleepers up in time to get there early!!!! LOL

 

[OrcaPotter]

Spent the day at the parks--happy to say that the summer crowds have definitely died down. All rides were either walk-ons, or no more than 20 minutes max. FJ was 20 minutes! Crazy! And this was around 2 PM. The parks were closing early, due to either prep for Rock the Universe or Rock the Universe itself (I'm not sure if it started tonight). Humid as heck, though. Ah, Florida. I remember why I don't do theme parks in the summer

 

[Thumper_Man]

Which day would be best for WWoHP? Tuesday - Thursday 10/11-13/11? All week days, so kind of hoping that they will all be relatively good??

Looking at your dates, I'll see you'll be there the week after Columbus Day. We went the Thursday after Columbus Day last year and even though it wasn't bad, the WWoHP area was still pretty crowded. FJ never had less than a 45 minute wait and Ollivander's was over an hour. Other than those 2, everything else was manageable. We were able to get in to eat lunch at 3BS without any wait at all. Shops weren't that crowded either. We were in and out of Zonko's and Honeydukes pretty quickly. Went into Hogshead to get Butterbeer and the Hogshead beer. Think the longest we waited in line was 10 minutes. Other times it was just walk up. The rest of the park was pretty slow. Our longest wait other than FJ was for Jurassic Park and Bluto's Barge. 45 minutes for JP and 30 for BB.

 

[Disneybound!!]

Thanks to all who give such great information through this thread! I need some expert help. I know it is a lower crowd time of the year, so I'm not too worried about either day, but I am going without my hubby and will have my 2 boys with me (5 and 8). I'd prefer to pick the least crowded day that I can. We plan to do IoA and have 2 choices. The first is Sunday, September 25, but we could only arrive around 12 or 1 o'clock that day. The second choice is Friday, September 30. We can arrive at opening (staying off site) that day. Which do you think would be the best choice considering crowds and the amount of time we'll have or not have? Thanks so much!

 

[OrcaPotter]

Thanks to all who give such great information through this thread! I need some expert help. I know it is a lower crowd time of the year, so I'm not too worried about either day, but I am going without my hubby and will have my 2 boys with me (5 and 8). I'd prefer to pick the least crowded day that I can. We plan to do IoA and have 2 choices. The first is Sunday, September 25, but we could only arrive around 12 or 1 o'clock that day. The second choice is Friday, September 30. We can arrive at opening (staying off site) that day. Which do you think would be the best choice considering crowds and the amount of time we'll have or not have? Thanks so much!

Of course it's tough to give anyone a definite of "it will be the least crowded on X day" because it can be difficult to predict. Yesterday, the crowds were really light but were made up mostly of Brazilian tour groups. In general, though, the time between Labor Day and October tends to have the lowest crowds. Saturdays will probably be the most crowded at these times, 'cause of us locals, with Friday possibly ahead of that. If you are only planning on doing WWoHP, you shouldn't have to battle big crowds later in the day if you go on Sunday. If you choose Friday, your best course of action is to hit ALL the other rides FIRST before going into WWoHP. You should hit no to minimum wait times. If it's a hot day, expect Dudley Do-Right Falls to have a crazy wait. Popeye shouldn't be too bad.

Once October hits, expect crowds to surge for a bit, taper off toward middle November, then surge as the holiday crowds start to roll in. More and more people are combining Universal with their Disney vacations, so the patterns at Disney are reflecting similarly on Universal.

 

[IndianSummer]

This is dd's b-day and she really wants to spend it at WWoHP and the rest of IoA. Is this a holiday in the US or anything else I should know why it might not be a recommended day?

 

[sceavis]

I will be at HP on oct 3rd How busy do you think it will be.Planning at three broomsticks.Thanks for the help?

 

[macraven]

I will be at HP on oct 3rd How busy do you think it will be.Planning at three broomsticks.Thanks for the help?

shouldn't be that busy on wednesday.
and that is where i will be that morning.........

 

[sceavis]

shouldn't be that busy on wednesday.
and that is where i will be that morning.........

See you there

 

[macraven]

you betcha' !

 

[justbishop]

Going tomorrow (Saturday). Staying offsite, but planning to be there for park opening. Can anyone tell mevwhat the Saturday crowds have been like lately?